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Reprinted  from  the  Educational  Review,  Vol.  56,  No.  4, 
November,  1918 


AN  AMERICAN  INTERNATIONAL  INSTITUTE  FOR 

EDUCATION 

In  international  relations  the  war  has  hastened  the  real- 
ization of  good  hopes.  Possibilities  have  suddenly  advanced 
to  probabilities  of  a better  understanding  among  nations, 
and  we  in  America  may  confidently  anticipate  large  benefit 
from  new  intellectual  and  spiritual,  as  well  as  new  com- 
mercial and  financial  ties  with  the  sympathetic  peoples  of 
every  continent  whom  we  have  joined  in  a stupendous 
struggle  for  truth,  honor  and  justice. 

Military  victory  over  Germany  and  Austria,  chief  crim- 
inal disturbers  of  the  world’s  happiness,  seems  comparatively 
near  at  hand.  When  this  is  secured,  the  immediate  goal 
of  the  present  associates  in  arms  will  have  been  reached. 
But,  plainly,  a greater  goal  lies  ahead,  the  attainment  of 
which  is  likely  to  be  harder  than  winning  success  in  the 
glowing  cause  that  now  so  largely  absorbs  our  thought,  the 
goal  of  lasting  cooperation  with  our  allies  for  the  common 
good. 

After  the  war,  when  wearied  peoples  must  needs  begin 
anew  their  daily  tasks  under  the  burden  of  bewildering 
losses,  when  traditional  jealousies  may  again  awake  sus- 
picion and  conflicting  national  interests  evoke  old  enmity, 
when  anxious  rivalries  are  certain  once  more  to  beget  dis- 
turbing irritation,  when  the  existing  friendships  of  nations 
will  be  increasingly  subject  to  the  crafts  and  assaults  of  a 
desperate  and  revengeful  foe,  who  can  only  profit  by  dis- 
pute— then  will  inevitably  be  required  a determined  joint 
effort  of  the  enlightened  among  the  opponents  of  the  Cen- 
tral Powers  everywhere  to  nurture  the  mutual  confidence 
that  now  strengthens  them  all. 

The  one  field  where  untrammeled  cooperation  to  this  end 
can  begin  at  once  is  education.  No  one  questions  the  moral 
integrity  of  the  educational  authorities  of  any  of  the  Allied 

339 


340 


Educational  Review 


[November 


nations.  It  is  inconceivable  that  from  any  group  of  them 
could  issue  such  a mendacious  manifesto  as  the  Es  ist  nicht 
wahr  pamphlet,  signed  soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  war 
by  a sorry  lot  of  German  professors,  ready  to  spread  the 
poison  of  untruth,  themselves  envenomed  by  false  doctrine. 
The  attitude  of  such  professors,  just  because  they  were 
professors  of  high  place  and  by  our  expectation  therefore 
absolutely  honest,  has  caused  a violent  revulsion  of  feeling 
against  all  German  teachers,  and  the  notorious  ninety- 
three  will  have  to  acknowledge  publicly  their  wrong-think- 
ing and  expiate  publicly  their  wrong-doing  before  any  of 
them  or  their  colleagues  can  be  readmitted  to  the  frank 
fellowship  of  scholars.  No  one  questions,  furthermore,  the 
eagerness  of  the  educational  authorities  of  any  of  the  Allied 
nations  to  use  their  influence  for  disinterested  ends.  And 
this  influence,  all  will  agree,  is  huge.  Universities  nowadays 
have  as  important  a function  as  the  monasteries  of  the 
Middle  Ages  in  supplying  national  leaders.  That  no  one 
can  doubt  who  calls  to  mind  the  numerous  names  of  some- 
time professors,  down  to  Masaryk,  the  latest  addition  to 
the  eminent  group,  not  to  mention  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  who  for  good  reason  are  guiding  the  des- 
tinies of  the  world.  Education,  in  truth,  is  the  watchword 
of  the  hour.  All  classes  recognize  its  power.  It  is  ac- 
knowledged to  be  the  only  safe  basis  for  the  ideal  democ- 
racies that  inhabit  and  delight  our  dreams. 

We  are  all  being  educated  to  a new  conception  of  patriot- 
ism, seeing  it  superbly  grow  from  more  to  more  into  a vivid 
sense  of  obligation  to  humanity.  The  youth  of  our  time 
are  starting  life  with  a consciousness  of  the  beauty  as  well 
as  the  power  of  international  fraternity.  Those  who  are 
fighting  on  foreign  soil  in  the  common  cause  of  right  are 
growing  aware  that  the  walls  and  partitions  of  their  old 
narrow  intellectual  abodes  are  being  torn  away.  They  are 
speedily  learning  that,  as  Coriolanus  put  it,  “There  is  a 
world  elsewhere,”  a world  of  feeling  as  w^ell  as  of  frontier, 
and  their  views  of  public  affairs  are  being  transfigured  by 
a vision  of  the  federation  of  mankind. 


1918]  International  institute  for  education  341 

Over  twenty-two  years  ago  (in  June,  1896)  I was  bold 
enough  to  publish  an  article  of  considerable  length,  in  the 
Revue  Internationale  de  V Enseignement,  on  Les  Universites  de 
France  et  d’Amerique,  in  which  I urged  a continuous  inter- 
change of  students  between  France  and  the  United  States, 
advocated  the  establishment  at  French  universities  of  a new 
type  of  doctor’s  degree,  the  Doctorat  de  l’Universite  (de 
Paris,  Bordeaux,  etc.),  and  pointed  out  the  unexcelled  op- 
portunities for  graduate  work  even  then  in  some  depart- 
ments of  some  American  universities,  in  the  hope  not  only 
of  making  conditions  of  study  in  France  more  appealing  to 
Americans,  but  also  of  inducing  at  least  a few  French  stu- 
dents to  cross  the  Atlantic. 

It  may  not  be  without  interest  to  readers  of  the  Educa- 
tional Review  to  see  from  the  opening  of  that  article  how 
curiously  it  anticipated  ideas  that  now  extensively  prevail 
and  hopes  that  are  on  the  way  to  generous  fulfillment. 

“II  se  produit  en  ce  moment  un  mouvement  important 
dans  le  monde  universitaire  frangais  pour  encourager  les 
etudiants  Americains  k venir  en  France.  Actuellement 
presque  tous  les  Americains,  qui  cherchent  k l’etranger  un 
complement  d ’etudes  se  rendent  en  Allemagne.  D’ou  vient 
cette  preference?  quelles  sont  les  raisons  qui  ont  ecarte 
jusqu’  k present  les  Americains  des  centres  universitaires 
frangais  et  par  quels  moyens  serait-il  possible  de  lever  ces 
obstacles? 

“On  me  permettra  de  dire  d’abord  que  je  suis  tout  k fait 
sympathique  a la  tentative  qui  se  fait  en  ce  moment,  et 
qu’  k mon  avis  c’est  en  France  que  l’etudiant  americain  doit 
venir.  Du  reste,  je  suis  sfir  qu’il  le  fera  si  les  Frangais  lui 
off  rent  les  ressources  d’ instruction  dont  il  a besoin,  et  lui 
menagent  le  m&me  bon  accueil  qu’il  regoit  tou jours  en 
Allemagne. 

“Si  je  ne  me  trompe,  tout  annonce  k present  une  reaction 
en  Amerique  contre  les  methodes  allemandes  trop  exclusive- 
ment  suivies  jusqu’a  ce  jour.  Nous  commengons  k nous 
apercevoir  que  nous  sommes  presque  enti&rement  ger- 
manises,  et  que  ce  fait  est  f&cheux.  Nous  commengons  a 


342 


Educational  Review 


[November 


nous  revolter  contre  des  methodes  qui  paraissent  souvent 
ne  pas  distinguer  l’or  des  scones,  qui  donnent  k tous  les 
faits  la  m£me  importance,  pourvu  qu’ils  soient  nouveaux, 
et  qui  ne  tiennent  aucun  compte  de  la  necessite  de  presenter 
ces  faits  d’une  mani&re  claire  et  attrayante.  I/Allemagne 
a fait  de  nous  des  esprits  scientifiques,  c’est-^-dire  serieux, 
patients,  exacts,  impartiaux,  profonds.  Nous  avons  regu 
de  bonnes  legons  et  nous  en  avons  beaucoup  profite.  Mais 
en  meme  temps  les  Allemands  ont  exerce  sur  nous  quelques 
influences  f&cheuses,  et  nous  nous  tournons  vers  les  Fran^ais 
pour  nous  aider  k les  combattre.  Ce  qui  nous  manque, 
c’est  F esprit  de  discernment,  la  clarte  et  la  limpidite  du 
style,  l’ordre  qui  subordonne  l’accessoire  a l’essentiel,  l’art 
de  la  mise  en  oeuvre, — toutes  qualites,  qui  contribuent  tant 
au  charme  et  a l’utilite  des  livres  frangais,  et  qui,  lorsque 
vient  s’y  ajouter  la  maitrise  du  sujet,  les  rendent  incom- 
parables. 

“Or,  si  Ton  demande  pourquoi  les  etudiants  americains 
de  lettres  et  de  sciences  sont  peu  nombreux  en  France,  la 
cause  n’en  est  pas  tres  difficile  k expliquer. 

“Dans  le  passe  les  Universites  fran^aises  n'offraient  guere 
de  ressources  k l’etudiant  avance,  et  il  lui  fallait  aller  en 
Allemagne  ou  Tenseignement  superieur  etait  mieux  adapte 
& ses  besoins.  Aujourd’hui  la  situation  est  quelque  peu 
changee  et  en  France  et  en  Amerique.  En  France,  un  vrai 
systeme  d’enseignement  superieur  k ete  etabli ; en  Amerique, 
le  desir  de  venir  ici  commence  k se  manifester,  surtout  dans 
les  universites  de  Test.  Pour  prouver  ma  derni&re  assertion, 
je  puis  dire  qu’en  ce  moment  trois  des  etudiants  qui  ont 
ete  envoyes  a Tetranger  par  l’Universite  de  Harvard  passent 
leur  annee  a Paris  et  travaillent  sur  des  sujets  aussi  differents 
que  la  philosophie,  Thistoire,  et  la  philologie  romane;1  et  il 
y k beaucoup  d’autres  anciens  etudiants  de  Harvard  qui 
s’occupent  ici  de  sciences,  politiques,  etc.  Je  dois  ajouter — 
ce  qui  est  la  chose  la  plus  importante — que  tous  sont  con- 

1 The  three  here  referred  to  were  Charles  M.  Bakewell,  now  Professor 
of  Philosophy  at  Yale;  James  Sullivan,  now  State  Historian  at  Albany;  and 
myself,  now  Professor  of  Comparative  Literature  at  Harvard. 


1918]  International  institute  for  education  343 

tents  de  ce  qu’ils  ont  trouve,  et  dans  quelques  cas,  au  lieu 
de  passer  ici  un  semestre  seulement,  comme  ils  en  avaient 
d’abord  l’intention,  ils  ont  decide  de  rester  au  moins  deux 
semestres,  et  peut-etre  plus. 

“On  ne  peut  pas  esperer,  bien  entendu,  que  l’exode  en 
Allemagne  cesse  tout  d’un  coup.  N’y  eut-il  pas  d’autre 
cause,  l’exemple  du  passe  suffirait  pour  emp&cher  pendant 
quelque  temps  qu’il  s’etablisse  un  grand  courant  vers  la 
France.  II  y a si  longtemps  que  les  Americains  vont  en 
Allemagne  qu’ils  se  tournent  instinctivement  vers  ce  pays 
comme  vers  la  terre  promise  de  la  science;  ils  sont  encour- 
ages aussi  par  leurs  professeurs,  qui  savent  eux-m&mes  ce 
qu’on  peut  y gagner,  et  qui  ont  pris  l’habitude  de  regarder 
l’enseignement  superieur  en  France  comme  superficial,  ou 
non  existant. 

“J’ai  sous  la  main  un  livre  qui  donne  la  carri£re  academ- 
ique  de  850  professeurs  americains  qui  enseignent  dans 
dix-neuf  Graduate  Schools  (c’est-a-dire:  ficoles  des  Hautes- 
Ehudes,  ou  personne  n’est  admis  sans  avoir  etudie  auparavant 
quatre  annees  dans  une  Universite) ; et  je  trouve  qu’il  y en 
a 155  qui  ont  le  doctorat  allemand.  Autrement  dit,  parmi 
les  maitres  qui  dirigent  les  hautes  etudes  de  nos  Universites, 
on  en  compte  au  moins  un  sur  six  qui  poss£de  le  diplome 
allemand,  et  il  s’en  faut  de  beaucoup  qu’ils  representent 
tous  ceux  qui  ont  passe  une  annee  ou  deux  en  Allemagne 
et  qui  sont  re venus  chez  eux  prendre  leurs  grades.  Vrai- 
ment  l’influence  de  l’Allemagne  sur  le  monde  savant  en 
Amerique  est  enorme.” 

The  movement,  started  by  a few  Americans  then  study- 
ing in  Paris,  which  this  article  was  intended  to  promote, 
received  cordial  support  from  prominent  French  scholars, 
who  were  alive  to  the  large  bearing  of  the  proposed  inter- 
change on  future  national  friendships,  and  it  soon  led  to  the 
establishment  of  a doctor’s  degree  not  too  difficult  for  a 
young  American  graduate  to  obtain,  as  well  as  to  a much 
livelier  interest  in  the  Americans  who  afterwards  sought 
instruction  in  France.  Not  so  readily  did  the  French  take 
to  the  idea  of  coming  to  America  to  study,  largely,  of  course, 


344 


Educational  Review 


[November 


because  of  the  expense  involved,  but  also  because  it  was 
too  decided  a break  with  old  practise.  French  students  in 
general  were  unaccustomed  to  going  abroad,  and  such  as 
needed  to  acquaint  themselves  with  the  English  language 
naturally  took  the  easy  road  to  England.  I recall,  more- 
over, even  now  with  amusement,  how  frankly  my  beloved 
master,  Gaston  Paris,  exprest  to  me  his  conviction  that  Amer- 
ican English  was  not  what  his  compatriots  ought  to  learn. 
He  admitted,  to  be  sure,  that  it  might  be  safe  for  them  to 
come  to  Boston  (for,  as  he  said,  he  had  not  discovered  any 
objectionable  intonation  in  my  voice  or  provincialisms  in 
my  speech),  but  he  feared  American  English  was  for  the 
most  part  like  Swiss  French,  or  worse.  Such  an  objection 
he  would  not  raise  now.  While  I write  these  lines  the  first 
detachment  of  some  120  young  French  women  are  driving 
thru  New  York,  having  accepted  the  offer  of  the  Associa- 
tion of  American  Colleges  to  pay  their  main  expenses  for 
a stay  in  the  United  States  long  enough  to  secure  them  an 
A.B.  degree;  a group  of  twenty  French  boys  will  arrive  within 
a few  days  to  get  practical  training  in  the  Springfield  High 
School;  and  another  group  of  twenty  French  soldiers  will 
also  soon  be  here  to  enter  our  colleges.  All  these  parties 
come  with  the  approval  and  financial  support  of  the  French 
Government.  The  doors  of  our  educational  institutions 
stand  open,  never  to  be  shut.  Thru  them  hosts  of  foreign- 
ers will  in  the  future  gladly  pass,  to  their  advantage  and 
ours. 

The  first  French  student  whom  I helped  to  persuade  to 
cross  the  water  was  M.  Charles  Cestre.  During  the  years 
1896-8  M.  Cestre  earned  on  advanced  research  in  English 
at  Harvard.  Eater  he  took  the  degree  of  Docteur-es- 
lettres  at  the  Sorbonne  and  became  a professor  at  Bordeaux. 
East  year  he  was  French  Exchange  Professor  at  Harvard, 
three  years,  as  it  happened,  after  I had  myself  been  invited 
by  the  Rector  and  Faculty  of  the  Sorbonne  to  lecture  there. 
The  orbit  of  the  circle  is  complete.  Professor  Cestre  will 
be  the  first  incumbent  of  a newly  established  chair  of 
American  Eiterature  and  Civilization  at  the  Sorbonne,  and 


1918]  International  institute  for  education  345 

I for  my  part  am  now  trying  to  get  established  an  American 
International  Institute  for  Education,  one  of  the  chief 
objects  of  which  will  be  to  promote  the  same  sort  of  inter- 
change of  students  with  France  (tho  now  not  only  with 
France,  but  also  with  other  friendly  nations)  which  I was 
eager  for  twenty-two  years  ago.  The  lessons  of  this  per- 
sonal review  are  manifest : the  internationally  minded 
students  of  one  generation  are  the  internationally  minded 
teachers  of  the  next;  international  intercourse  is  forwarded 
most  enthusiastically  by  those  who  have  enjoyed  the  bene- 
fits of  it.  If  the  great  body  of  our  people  are  ever  brought 
to  understand  even  vaguely  the  imperative  necessity  of 
deeper  knowledge  of  foreign  lands,  many  leaders  of  opinion 
in  this  direction  must  speedily  be  developed.  Only  if  we 
give  men  and  women  of  every  state  opportunities  for  en- 
lightened travel,  bring  educated  foreigners  to  discuss  with 
educated  Americans  matters  of  common  interest,  and  get 
honest  information  concerning  one  another  spread  broad- 
cast among  nations,  will  rapid  progress  be  made  towards 
international  friendship. 

Educational  authorities  of  the  United  States  have  long 
recognized  the  importance  of  the  acquaintance  of  foreign 
professors  with  their  institutions,  as  well  as  of  their  pro- 
fessors’ acquaintance  with  foreign  institutions,  and  several 
systems  of  exchange  professorships  have  been  brought  into 
being  during  the  past  fifteen  years.  Harvard  and  Colum- 
bia have  been  foremost  in  this  movement,  but  other  uni- 
versities both  in  the  west  and  in  the  east  have  regularly 
sought  to  secure  eminent  lecturers  from  different  parts  of 
the  world.  The  disposition  to  and  the  possibility  of  such 
cooperation  have  been  incalculably  strengthened  by  Amer- 
ica’s entrance  in  the  war,  and  much  closer  relations  among 
men  of  note  in  the  lands  that  trust  one  another  are  bound 
to  be  established  without  delay.  What  is  now  true  of 
mature  scholars  will  be  still  truer  of  the  younger  men  who 
are  preparing  to  carry  on  this  intellectual  work.  Already 
some  seven  thousand  foreign  students  are  enrolled  in  Amer- 
ican colleges  and  universities.  In  a decade  there  may  be 


346 


Educational  Review 


[November 


seventeen  thousand.  If  so,  we  have  an  immediate  duty. 
We  must  make  ready  to  satisfy  these  emissaries  and  sure- 
ties of  good-will. 

The  American  Council  on  Education  was  called  into  be- 
ing, under  the  pressure  of  war,  to  serve  not  only  as  a means 
of  easy  communication  between  educational  associations  of 
the  country  and  the  Federal  Government,  but  also  as  a 
clearing  house  of  opinion  and  a starting  point  of  action  in 
the  American  educational  world.  Its  first  name  was  the 
Emergency  Council  on  Education,  but  since  it  soon  became 
evident  that  most  of  its  proposed  activities  were  permanent 
in  character,  demanding  far-sight  and  far-planning  to  bring 
them  to  satisfactory  fruition,  and  since  its  program  was 
not  only  national  in  scope  but  involved  cooperation  in  a 
distinctive  national  way  with  similar  councils  in  other  lands 
and  with  foreign  governments,  its  name  was  changed  to  the 
one  it  now  bears. 

The  Council  is  composed  at  present  of  delegates  from 
some  twenty  national  associations  of  educational  institu- 
tions, societies  of  scholars,  boards  and  foundations,  and  may 
be  enlarged  by  vote  of  the  Executive  Committee.  No  such 
all-embracing  organization,  representing  almost  every  form 
of  American  education,  ever  previously  existed  in  this  coun- 
try. Its  power  for  good  has  already  been  demonstrated  and 
its  likelihood  of  permanence  increases  steadily. 

Before  the  Students’  Army  Training  Corps  was  estab- 
lished, the  War  Department  eagerly  availed  themselves  of 
the  facilities  provided  by  the  Council  to  make  the  Gov- 
ernment’s wishes  regarding  the  colleges  known  thruout  the 
land,  and  they  have  since  openly  testified  to  the  important 
help  they  have  received  from  the  Council  by  its  prompt 
and  efficient  cooperation  with  them  in  making  the  Corps  a 
success. 

The  Surgeon-General  has  committed  to  the  Council 
the  arrangements  for  the  training  of  ten  thousand  nurses  in 
American  colleges  to  which  women  are  admitted,  another 
mark  of  the  Government’s  confidence  in  the  Council’s 
strength. 


1918]  International  institute  for  education  347 

A judicious  Committee  on  Education  for  Citizenship  are 
now  working  on  extensive  plans  to  bring  home  to  our  young 
men  and  women  better  than  has  hitherto  been  done  their 
privileges  and,  still  more,  their  duties  as  future  guides  of  a 
land  seemingly  destined  to  play  a conspicuous  part  in  ad- 
vancing civilization. 

At  the  request  of  the  Council  on  National  Defense,  the 
Council  has  made  all  the  arrangements  and  secured  the 
money  to  pay  for  the  reception  of  a very  distinguished  Brit- 
ish Educational  Mission  headed  by  the  Vice-Chancellor  of 
the  University  of  Cambridge  and  the  Vice-Chancellor  of  the 
University  of  Manchester,  and  including  eminent  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Universities  of  Oxford,  Glasgow,  Dublin, 
Eondon,  and  Birmingham,  sent  here  by  the  British  Govern- 
ment to  inquire  into  the  best  means  of  procuring  closer 
cooperation  between  the  educational  institutions  of  Great 
Britain  and  America,  an  end  greatly  desired  on  both  sides. 

Such  opportunities  of  service  as  this  last  mentioned  lie 
particularly  within  the  province  of  the  Committee  on  Inter- 
national Educational  Relations,  who  have  received  the 
official  sanction  of  the  Government  for  other  plans  that  they 
have  made  with  similar  objects  in  view.  The  following 
gratifying  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  sent  by  re- 
quest to  the  Secretary  of  the  Council  in  the  absence  of  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee,  is  here  made  public  for  the 
first  time : 

The  Secretary  of  State 
Washington,  August  15,  1918. 
Dear  President  Campbeee: 

On  July  6th  Professor  Schofield  left  with  Mr.  Phillips, 
the  Assistant  Secretary  of  State,  a memorandum  concerning 
the  Committee  on  International  Educational  Relations  of 
the  American  Council  on  Education,  requesting  that  this 
Government  authorize  the  Council  to  state  that  their  fur- 
ther efforts  in  connection  with  the  Committee  on  Inter- 
national Relations  have  its  approval. 

This  memorandum  has  received  the  most  careful  consider- 
ation and  in  reply  I beg  to  inform  you,  as  requested  by 


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[November 


Professor  Schofield,  that  the  Government  is  in  cordial  sym- 
pathy with  the  high  purposes  of  the  Committee  and  earnestly 
hopes  that  the  execution  of  the  plans,  as  outlined  in  the 
memorandum,  will  result  in  strengthening  the  friendly  rela- 
tions existing  between  the  United  States  and  other  coun- 
tries. 

Sincerely  yours, 

(Signed)  Robert  Lansing 

President  P.  L.  Campbell 

This  Committee  are  now  intent  on  creating  in  New  York 
City  an  American  International  Institute  for  Education, 
the  objects  of  which  are  as  follows: 

1.  To  supply  Americans  with  information  regarding  the 
educational  institutions  of  foreign  lands  and  to  supply  for- 
eigners with  information  regarding  the  educational  institu- 
tions of  America. 

2.  To  facilitate  the  entrance  of  foreign  students  to  Amer- 
ican educational  institutions,  assist  them  in  securing  a just 
valuation  of  their  academic  attainments  and  degrees,  and 
give  them  such  individual  guidance  as  they  may  desire. 

3.  To  endeavor  to  obtain  scholarships  for  the  most  de- 
serving of  such  students  and  to  make  personal  connections 
for  all  who  need  these  in  the  furtherance  of  their  work. 

4.  To  stimulate  and,  so  far  as  possible,  provide  funds  to 
enable  American  young  men  and  women  of  promise  to  go 
abroad  for  purposes  of  study,  and  to  secure  them  access  to 
authorities  there  in  their  special  fields  of  inquiry. 

5.  To  plan  with  foreign  institutions  for  the  interchange 
of  lecturers  and  teachers,  and  to  try  to  make  the  stay  of 
eminent  visitors  in  America  widely  influential. 

6.  To  establish  bonds  between  international  societies 
formed  for  social,  commercial,  and  intellectual  intercourse. 

7.  To  effect  among  scholars  the  world  over  closer  coop- 
eration in  research. 

8.  To  arrange  conferences  to  discuss  ways  of  achieving 
wise  international  agreements. 

9.  To  encourage  the  publication  of  books  regarding  the 


1918]  International  institute  for  education  349 

history  of  foreign  nations,  as  well  as  of  America,  which  will 
tend  to  correct  misinformation  and  dispel  prejudice. 

10.  To  procure  thru  the  many  agencies  of  education  a 
more  general  understanding  of  the  interdependence  of  peo- 
ples, to  the  end  of  developing  in  all  leaders  the  international 
mind. 

There  is  no  need  here  to  go  into  details  regarding  the  or- 
ganization of  this  proposed  institute.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
the  final  control  will  rest  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Amer- 
ican Council  on  Education  and  that  whatever  gifts  it  may 
obtain  to  help  it  to  carry  on  its  work  will  in  no  way  affect 
its  independence.  The  Board  of  Management  will  be  made 
up  of  the  officers  of  the  Institute,  and  the  Committee  on 
International  Educational  Relations,  a body  now  composed 
of  eight  university  professors  with  special  knowledge  of 
foreign  educational  conditions.  This  Committee,  however, 
will  eventually  be  enlarged  to  include  the  chairmen  of  Com- 
mittees on  Special  Subjects,  who  will  be  chosen  by  delegates 
of  academies,  foundations,  and  learned  societies  of  national 
importance  and  will  therefore  be  recognized  by  all  as  com- 
petent to  pass  upon  questions  of  scholarship  and  to  give 
good  advice  to  students  in  their  special  fields.  With  the 
support  of  the  numerous  educational  institutions  that  they 
represent,  and  with  the  help  of  such  educational  experts, 
the  Committee  ought  to  have  unique  strength  in  carrying 
on  the  work  they  have  undertaken. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  American  International  Institute  of 
Education  will  eventually  form  part  of  a Union  of  Inter- 
national Institutes  of  Education  similarly  constituted  in 
sympathetic  lands,  which  could  work  in  close  cooperation. 
In  such  an  event,  each  institute  (of  which  there  should  be 
but  one  of  its  kind  in  any  one  country)  would  be  entitled 
to  appoint  a National  Director  at  every  other  institute,  who 
would  participate  in  the  deliberations  of  the  Board  of 
Management  of  the  institute  to  which  he  was  accredited, 
as  well  as  convey  educational  information  both  to  and  from 
that  institute  to  his  own  country. 

If  this  result  were  achieved,  each  institute  would  be  in- 


350 


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[November 


ternational  in  character  within  itself  as  well  as  within  the 
Union.  The  Directors-in-Chief  of  the  different  institutes, 
with  such  other  persons  as  the  different  Boards  of  Control 
might  designate,  would  form  a Council  to  consider  questions 
of  common  policy,  thus  further  emphasizing  the  international 
nature  of  the  undertaking,  and  its  complete  devotion  to 
the  ideal  of  an  unfettered  republic  of  arts  and  sciences. 

The  advantages  of  such  a union  are  clear.  They  include 
the  avoidance  (a)  of  duplication  of  effort  to  the  same  end, 
( b ) of  expense  in  making  collections  of  the  same  material  and 
in  supplying  the  same  sort  of  information,  and  (c)  of  having 
various,  perhaps  conflicting,  agencies  in  the  same  land,  all 
liable  to  the  suspicion  of  narrow  national  interest. 

Such  institutes,  furthermore,  would  inevitably  become 
centers  of  international  cooperation  and  be  certain  to  exert 
large  influence  in  promoting  international  friendliness.  The 
act  of  any  nation  in  establishing  one  within  the  union  would 
be  a witness  to  its  good  faith  in  seeking  increased  intellectual 
intercourse  with  America,  not  primarily  for  selfish  advantage 
but  for  the  common  profit. 

The  proposal  of  the  Committee  to  establish  an  American 
International  Institute  for  Education  does  not,  of  course, 
depend  on  the  establishment  for  allied  institutes  in  other 
lands.  But  the  Committee  feel  that  they  ought  to  be  far- 
sighted in  their  plans,  and  endeavor  to  create  an  organiza- 
tion which  would  so  commend  itself  to  foreign  agencies  as 
to  be  adopted  by  them  with  as  little  need  of  change  as  pos- 
sible. Various  foreign  bodies  are  now  working  on  similar 
educational  projects,  but  all  aim  at  purely  national  advance- 
ment. These  would  probably  be  abandoned  if  the  United 
States  could  in  advance  indicate  a better  way  of  attaining  a 
better  end — that  of  world-wide  educational  association,  with 
the  sole  desire  of  bringing  nearer  thereby  a mental  and 
moral  federation  of  the  world. 

No  other  land,  for  obvious  reasons,  is  so  well  fitted  as  the 
United  States  to  take  the  initiative  in  such  an  enterprise. 
No  time  could  be  more  suited  than  the  present  to  start  the 
movement,  for  all  the  Allied  countries  are  eager  to  cement 


4 


1918]  International  institute  for  education  351 

the  spiritual  bonds  created  by  the  war  and  all  recognize 
that  by  education  more  than  by  any  other  force  mutual 
understanding  (not  understandings)  can  be  brought  about. 

Finally  may  be  mentioned  a movement  soon  to  begin  in 
which  the  Committee  see  large  possibilities  of  good,  and  for 
which  they,  with  others  who  are  interested  in  it,  ask  the 
support  of  educators  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  a move- 
ment, namely,  to  induce  each  state  legislature  to  establish 
Memorial  Fellowships,  in  memory  of  those  from  their  state 
who  fall  in  the  war,  whereby  in  the  future  the  most  promis- 
ing young  men  and  women  of  that  state  may  be  enabled, 
after  they  have  taken  a college  degree  at  home,  to  study 
abroad  in  one  or  other  of  the  lands  of  the  Allies.  It  is 
surely  not  too  much  to  expect  that  every  state  in  the  Union 
would  welcome  such  an  opportunity  to  equip  its  best-fitted 
citizens  for  enlightened  leadership  in  the  nation,  build  up 
among  its  own  residents  a body  of  experts  on  conditions  in 
foreign  lands,  and,  not  the  least,  help  to  promote  achieve- 
ments in  science,  literature,  music  and  art,  which  would 
redound  to  the  honor  of  the  whole  land.  Such  fellowships 
would  show  to  the  Allies  in  a striking  way  our  appreciation 
of  the  incalculably  great  service  they  have  rendered  us  in 
the  preservation  of  our  liberties,  and  bind  them  more  firmly 
to  us.  But  in  establishing  them  we  should  be  expressing 
our  gratitude  chiefly  to  our  own  youth  who  have  sacrificed 
their  lives  for  the  welfare  of  their  land. 

Our  heroic  dead  deserve  memorials.  Marble  monuments 
and  bronze  tablets  are  far  less  valuable,  far  less  permanently 
inspiring,  than  tangible  tributes  to  the  aspiration  of  the 
living,  continual  incentives  to  new  distinction.  We  could 
in  no  better  way  commemorate  the  young  men  on  our 
Honor  Rolls  of  war  than  by  encouraging  others  of  then- 
type  to  emulate  their  idealistic  devotion  and  try  to  win 
places  on  our  Honor  Rolls  of  Peace. 

William  Henry  Schofield 


Harvard  University 


